I have been asked to clean 25,000 sq ft of cement boat slips, these slips are on Lake Erie and they want to make sure that if I use any type of chemical I can show that it is safe for the water. Is Green Wash safe for this type of cleaning, or would I be better off just using my hot water system and the surface cleaners.
Michael Derose said
Jan 18, 2015
I would say just hot water machine and surface cleaner. This way you don't have to worry about chemicals and seeing if it will be safe or not.
Tim Teed said
Jan 19, 2015
Use some kind of phosphate free soap like greenwash in conjunction with pressure washer. It gives you a marketing edge against others as anyone can use a pressure washer.
Michael Derose said
Jan 19, 2015
Yes anyone can use a pressure washer but most do not have a hot water pressure washer. I still wouldn't use any soap around the water all the green wash will do is foam up I can't see it cleaning the concrete.
Brandon Vaughn said
Jan 20, 2015
Be careful - we've ran into issues even with using hot pressure washers on boat docks and slips, because the hot water or pressure can/will dislodge oils from the concrete and the pressure treating on the wood (if any).
I called anonymously into our local DEQ about this, and they actually said that they would shut down the job if we used a pressure washer on the docks (ridiculous to me).
Kind of left me saying - "Uhhhh, how can we clean this then??". They did however approve the MSDS on the green wash though. Just said to employ best practices to limit overspray directly into the water.
We ended up spraying green wash and letting them know that it would take a couple weeks for them to see the results. We sprayed, agitated and left it. Rains came through within a day or two and they were happy with the results.
-- Edited by Brandon Vaughn on Tuesday 20th of January 2015 01:25:14 PM
Michael Derose said
Jan 20, 2015
Did the green wash actually clean it?
Brandon Vaughn said
Jan 20, 2015
Yeah it did - not as dramatic as with bleach added, but customers were very happy with it. They did not want to pressure wash because they were concerned about degradation of surfaces (mostly wood & some concrete that was starting to crumble).
Michael Derose said
Jan 20, 2015
Gotchya.
Troy Layman said
Jan 21, 2015
Brandon,
Do you happen to have any before and after pictures of this job? Were you treating just the concrete, or the wood decks/planks as well? I know I can't use bleach on docks unless I somehow rig a 100% collection which could difficult and costly. If the Green Wash would be some what effective and the DEQ didn't shoot it down, that may give Mark Fermoyle and myself (and others on the SWS forums) a way to handle the docks and piers. I'm currently living on the river and don't see anything being done to keep piers and boat houses maintained.
I have been asked to clean 25,000 sq ft of cement boat slips, these slips are on Lake Erie and they want to make sure that if I use any type of chemical I can show that it is safe for the water. Is Green Wash safe for this type of cleaning, or would I be better off just using my hot water system and the surface cleaners.
Be careful - we've ran into issues even with using hot pressure washers on boat docks and slips, because the hot water or pressure can/will dislodge oils from the concrete and the pressure treating on the wood (if any).
I called anonymously into our local DEQ about this, and they actually said that they would shut down the job if we used a pressure washer on the docks (ridiculous to me).
Kind of left me saying - "Uhhhh, how can we clean this then??". They did however approve the MSDS on the green wash though. Just said to employ best practices to limit overspray directly into the water.
We ended up spraying green wash and letting them know that it would take a couple weeks for them to see the results. We sprayed, agitated and left it. Rains came through within a day or two and they were happy with the results.
-- Edited by Brandon Vaughn on Tuesday 20th of January 2015 01:25:14 PM
Yeah it did - not as dramatic as with bleach added, but customers were very happy with it. They did not want to pressure wash because they were concerned about degradation of surfaces (mostly wood & some concrete that was starting to crumble).
Brandon,
Do you happen to have any before and after pictures of this job? Were you treating just the concrete, or the wood decks/planks as well? I know I can't use bleach on docks unless I somehow rig a 100% collection which could difficult and costly. If the Green Wash would be some what effective and the DEQ didn't shoot it down, that may give Mark Fermoyle and myself (and others on the SWS forums) a way to handle the docks and piers. I'm currently living on the river and don't see anything being done to keep piers and boat houses maintained.